Taurus M94 Transfer Bar Broke

I was doing some target shooting today and after 117 rounds I could tell the pistol was getting dirty - rounds a little harder to chamber and cylinder a little harder to close. I had 33 more rounds in my bowl (I had dumped 3 - 50 round boxes in there originally) so I just wiped it off a little with a rag and finished them. The last cylinder was a little harder to close but I just thought it was a build-up on the already tight cylinder gap. My timing was perfect b/c after the 150th round it locked up tight. I took it apart and found the transfer bar had snapped in 2. Taurus is sending me another one, but what could cause this on a 3 month old (maybe 400 round) pistol. I know these guns don't have the best reputation, but man this is pathetic. The place where it snapped is VERY thin so my confidence in even a new one isn't that great. I have cocked the hammer and released it (not dry firing) with my thumb still on the hammer a bunch of times trying to get the freakishly heavy trigger pull to loosen up a little. It seems this heavy spring has to be taking a toll on the transfer bar - it even has a slight dimple where it strikes the pin. For a relatively young pistol this just doesn't seem like a good sign of things to come. Any thoughts?

I was at Sportsman's talking with a guy that I know quite well there. He says that Taurus by far has the most failures. Problems range from timing issues to sloppy fitting parts. A broken transfer bar, man that would suck if that broke when you needed your gun the most.

No doubt! I only use it for a "fun" gun, but if it is going to be too fragile it will take all the fun out of it. It is just tough to drop $600 plus on a S&W or Ruger that is just for back yard plinking.

I also thought it was kind of funny the rep from Taurus made it very clear that if I could fix it myself I would be WAY better off. I was thinking about sending it in to see if there was an issue that caused this. I know there was quite a bit of metal shavings that came out on the initial cleaning. He basically said they take a long time to get a gun back without actually using those exact words. So I figure I will just completely disassemble it and clean things up a bit when the new bar comes in (7-10 business days). Maybe the extra few hundred for a S&W or Ruger is worth it.

No doubt! I only use it for a "fun" gun, but if it is going to be too fragile it will take all the fun out of it. It is just tough to drop $600 plus on a S&W or Ruger that is just for back yard plinking.

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Hey I'm not knocking you and I don't judge what others buy. As long as your a gun guy that is what counts. A transfer bar breaking is uncommon IMO. Once it is fixed have fun. Also I agree, shooting most anything is fun except for a Heritage .22 revolver. Those things disgust me.

Hey I'm not knocking you and I don't judge what others buy. As long as your a gun guy that is what counts. A transfer bar breaking is uncommon IMO. Once it is fixed have fun. Also I agree, shooting most anything is fun except for a Heritage .22 revolver. Those things disgust me.

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Ironically Heritage now belongs to Taurus too. I guess I will see how it acts with the new transfer bar. I guess there are a few other things I am not crazy about with this revolver so I am having even more buyers remorse now that I had a failure. Thanks for the response.

Send it in. My neighbor had two of these with the same problem. Taurus wouldn't send him a postage-paid mailer (like S&W does). When he got them back, they functioned perfectly. I think the rep gave you some poor info.

Send it in. My neighbor had two of these with the same problem. Taurus wouldn't send him a postage-paid mailer (like S&W does). When he got them back, they functioned perfectly. I think the rep gave you some poor info.

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I just called and am sending it in since they won't ship a hammer or trigger according to the rep. I have to pay the shipping and it will be 6-8 weeks before they can even look at it. It will be for sale as soon as it gets back. No more Taurus for this guy! I guess you get what you pay for - I knew I should have brought that Ruger home instead. Live and learn.

Had my M94 5" since '04 and shoot it regularly.
Other than the springs [jeez ! ] it has been great.
Although 605 springs will fit, .....much better.
My M608 went back to Miami 4 times when it was new.
My 327's have been fine [8mos].
I don't put much faith in the Taurus for dependability, but they
are nice when they work, and inexpensive....I have others that I
RELY on.....yet even a new Smith[$700] went back this summer
for repair....1mo old.
What Ruger are you referring to "you shoulda brought home"....?
Please don't tell me the KSP 242-8.......SP101 8shot......please tell
me you didn't have a chance to get that.....
I have been on a wait list since last September......

Had my M94 5" since '04 and shoot it regularly.
Other than the springs [jeez ! ] it has been great.
Although 605 springs will fit, .....much better.
My M608 went back to Miami 4 times when it was new.
My 327's have been fine [8mos].
I don't put much faith in the Taurus for dependability, but they
are nice when they work, and inexpensive....I have others that I
RELY on.....yet even a new Smith[$700] went back this summer
for repair....1mo old.
What Ruger are you referring to "you shoulda brought home"....?
Please don't tell me the KSP 242-8.......SP101 8shot......please tell
me you didn't have a chance to get that.....
I have been on a wait list since last September......

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They had a SP101 that I was SOOO close to getting, but thinking it was just a back yard plinker figured the Taurus would be fine. I have had good luck with Taurus semi-auto's so past experience was positive. I guess I should give them the opportunity to make it right and see how it does. I just don't have the patience when it comes to giving someone my money for a new product and then that product fails really soon and I have to spend more money to send it in AND then wait a couple months to get my product back. So the countdown begins!

What exactly do you see in the trigger group that is "Nasty"? I haven't ever been a revolver guy so am not sure what to look for. Thanks in advance!

They had a SP101 that I was SOOO close to getting, but thinking it was just a back yard plinker figured the Taurus would be fine. I have had good luck with Taurus semi-auto's so past experience was positive. I guess I should give them the opportunity to make it right and see how it does. I just don't have the patience when it comes to giving someone my money for a new product and then that product fails really soon and I have to spend more money to send it in AND then wait a couple months to get my product back. So the countdown begins!

What exactly do you see in the trigger group that is "Nasty"? I haven't ever been a revolver guy so am not sure what to look for. Thanks in advance!

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Go for that SP101! I've still got my first-run 4" .22LR SP101 and it'll be the last firearm that I part with. The new one is an excellent trail pistol. the only thing I don't like about it is the ugly sights (but they're perfectly useable!) and having only a half-lug barrel.

I've had both a 94 and a 941 in the past (plus a few other Taurii revolvers) and didn't have any problems with them either...but those were early-90s revolvers.
The more I read about the current ones and from what I've seen in a couple of recent ones that I've picked up their quality has dropped off a lot.

The rough internal finishing in your frame is about normal for a Taurus but that chipped sear surface is unacceptable.
With the bad sear surface I would send it in to Taurus. They're "cheaping out" by offering to send you a new transfer bar. And once you install that new transfer bar yourself, guess what? You just voided the lifetime warranty by having a non-factory tech work on it. I've been down that road with a 669 and an 85.
If you sell it with known bad internals...that's your call. I couldn't do it myself unless the buyer knew that it was damaged and was aware that it has problems.

That transfer bar must've caught on the frame somewhere because it bent and cracked where it broke. The same might happen with the new bar unless you find what snagged it and caused the first mishap.

Used to be that all Taurus revolvers were simply Brazilian Smith & Wessons, everything exchanged...
I'd look at some S&W parts and see if they match up...

History of Taurus & S&W shows they used to be linked...but that was some time back...

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At one point in time, Taurus used to build licensed copies of the various Smith frames for South American sales using blueprints and machinery purchased from S&W. Those were their first revolvers.
The current Taurus models are complete different than any Smith and few if any internals are interchangable.
Taurus modified the basic J-frame coil spring action setup for use in all of their frame sizes. You might be able to mod a few of the J-frame parts to fit a small-frame Taurus like the 94/941 but not many of em.

It was shipped to Taurus today so now the wait begins. The transfer bar broke right in line where the trigger/hammer come together so I wonder if there was some shifting and they came into contact somehow.